


You're Mine (And I'm Yours)

by dvg



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Romance, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-12 16:48:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29138820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dvg/pseuds/dvg
Summary: Robert and Aaron have been friends for years, but what happens when one night, one passionate kiss, leads them both to finally admit what they've known all along?That they love each other.
Relationships: Aaron Dingle/Robert Sugden
Comments: 7
Kudos: 100





	You're Mine (And I'm Yours)

Aaron was laying in bed just staring at the ceiling when he finally decided _fuck it_ and grabbed his phone, and before he could talk himself out of it, called the one person he just couldn't stop thinking about no matter how hard he tried.

Earlier that night, after months of trying to ignore these feelings that he'd been having, he'd finally given in. He wasn't sure what had come over him. He didn't want Robert like that. They had been friends for years for God's sake. Since when had he started lusting after someone he had a beer with on a daily basis after work? Who he could talk to about anything and know without a doubt would drop everything if Aaron needed him. Hadn't Robert proved that when Trent had stood him up on their wedding day? Robert had been there, just been there for him, telling him that Trent was an idiot for letting him go, pouring him shot after shot of tequila to help drown out the pain. What had Robert said to him the next morning when he'd stumbled into Robert's kitchen with a nasty hangover and his hair sticking up at all ends?

_I never liked Trent. He didn't deserve you. You deserve the world, Aaron, and someday you're going to find someone worthy of your love._

When had he stopped seeing Robert as just a friend and instead someone he was madly in love with?

Despite what he kept telling himself the last few months, the sexual tension between them had been simmering for a while, years maybe now that he thought about it. 

He had just needed to get the charming and self-confident to the point of a cocky, man out of his system, Aaron rationalized. After tonight he would put this behind him, forget about it. What happened tonight couldn't happen again.

But now that he had a taste of Robert, he only wanted more. No one had ever made him feel wanted the way Robert had tonight. He could still feel the concrete of the wall Robert had slammed him against, Robert's warm breath brushing against his lips, the feel of Robert's tongue tangling with his.

Robert's words replayed in his head over and over again.

_I've wanted this for so long. You like this, in my arms. It's where you always should have been._

_Fuck,_ Aaron thought with a groan.

 _Robert is off-limits,_ he reminded himself even as he could feel the hardness between his legs. All it took was for Aaron to conjure up the image of Robert in his head and he was hard.

They were friends, nothing more. That's the way it had always been and that's the way it had to stay.

Aaron prayed that Robert was asleep, that he wouldn't answer his phone. If he did, he would just say it was a mistake - add it to the fucking long list of ones he'd made when it came to Robert - and hang up. But before he could end the call, Robert answered.

"Hello?" 

_Fuck. How do I get out of this now?_

"Hello?" Robert said again, his voice groggy. "Aaron, I know that's you. I have called ID."

"Sorry," Aaron said, then he rolled his eyes at himself for how he was acting. "I thought you'd be asleep. I was just going to leave you a message."

"You could have just texted me."

Robert had him there, Aaron thought as he tried to come up with something to say that sounded believable. Anything but the real reason he called.

Because he needed to hear Robert's voice. Because he couldn't get Robert out of his head. Because he wanted him, despite the millions of reasons he shouldn't.

"Is everything okay?" Robert said. "Do you need me to come over?"

"No," Aaron said quickly. He could hear the rustling of sheets on the other end of the line, making it impossible for Aaron _not_ to think about Robert in bed, naked with only a thin sheet covering his body.

He groaned at the image.

"This is about what happened tonight," Robert said. It wasn't a question. "You can't stop thinking about it any more than I can."

"We need to forget it happened," Aaron said. "I called because I wanted to tell you to stop coming around the pub. I can't...I can't have you coming around." He was leaving in a few days anyway. Back to his swanky mansion in London, his corporate office, and back to attending lavish parties hosted by his clients with an attractive woman on his arm. 

He didn't want to feel like this. He didn't want to love Robert. He didn't want it to hurt so much watching Robert go back to life miles and miles away that he wasn't a part of. 

He wanted Robert to go. He just wanted to forget tonight had ever happened.

But why, if he really wanted Robert to stay away, did the thought make his chest ache?

"You telling me what to do, Dingle?"

Aaron sighed. "I just....we can't...what happened tonight can't happen again." Then it hit him. Why he was pushing Robert away, why he hadn't allowed himself to get close to anyone since Trent. 

He wasn't enough. He would never be enough. No one ever stayed with him. They always found a reason to go.

Losing Robert wasn't an option. Aaron needed him in his life. So he was left with only one choice.

He had to make Robert see that what happened tonight was a mistake. 

"It will," Robert said. "We've been fighting what's between us for what? Two years now? Don't you think it's about time we stop?"

"But that's just another part of this whole mess," Aaron said.

"What is?" Robert said, even though he was pretty sure he didn't want to hear the answer.

"You could have anyone you want, man or woman, yet you're pursuing someone who has made it clear that they're not interested," Aaron said, but even he knew he was only lying to himself, to Robert, to get him to back off even though it was last thing in the world he wanted.

"Aaron."

Aaron clamped his eyes shut. "What?"

He thought he had made it pretty damn obvious, but if Aaron needed the words, Robert would gladly oblige. "I don't want anyone else. I only want you."

"I can't. I can't do this."

"Then why are we still talking?" Robert knew why Aaron was fighting this so hard, and he couldn't really blame him, not after what he'd been through last year. But he wasn't Trent. He wasn't going to hurt him. He'd stab himself in the heart first.

Robert could pinpoint the exact moment he had started to see Aaron in a different light, as more than a friend. He had always been protective of Aaron, but when his asshole of a fiance had left him standing at the altar, something had shifted inside of him. Friendship had evolved into love over years, but it wasn't until he'd seen Aaron so vulnerable, so heartbroken that he finally realized what he had felt all along.

He could hardly blame Aaron for guarding his heart after what happened, but couldn't he see how much Robert loved him, how much he cared? He'd been there for him, through the good and the bad. How many nights, just like this, had he spent on the phone with Aaron talking about everything and nothing at all just to hear his voice? Despite what was published about him in the media, he wasn't interested in one night stands or meaningless sex. He wanted Aaron and only Aaron. He needed to make Aaron see that, to believe that.

If Aaron didn't want this just as badly as he did, Aaron wouldn't have kissed him back tonight, he would have pushed him away. And he would have hung up the phone by now, but Aaron was still there and Robert could hear Aaron's breathing on the other end of the line. "Aaron, talk to me. Tell me, if you don't want this, why didn't you fight me, why did you kiss me back?"

Silence.

"I felt your body against mine, your lips on mine, how incredible it felt. I know you felt it too. You're thinking about it right now, aren't you?"

He was met with more silence.

"Aaron? Stop with this silence bull shit and answer the question. Why did you kiss me back?"

Then Aaron finally spoke, giving Robert the answer he'd been waiting for.

"Because I can't stop wanting you. Because I can't seem to get you out of my fucking head."

"I'm glad."

Aaron could almost see the smug look on his face. "Don't. You don't want me. What happened tonight is just messing with your head. You're going back to London in a few days and you'll forget all about this, about us. We can go back to the way things were before."

"Aaron."

Robert said his name so softly Aaron almost didn't hear it.

Aaron held his breath, waiting for the inevitable, waiting for Robert to say that he was right, that what happened tonight was a mistake.

"I've always wanted you. I just never knew how to tell you." When Aaron didn't say anything, Robert sighed. Aaron could hear the opening and shut of drawers on the other end of the line and he panicked.

"Rob, what are you doing?"

"I'm coming over."

Aaron was ruffling through his dresser looking for a shirt when he came to an abrupt standstill after Robert's words. "No."

"Since when do I listen to you, Dingle?" Then he hung up, giving Aaron no chance to try and talk him out of it.

Aaron cursed, but his heart was beating fast and his palms were sweaty. What was Robert going to say when he got here? He's not actually going to, Aaron told himself as he pulled on a pair of grey sweats. Just in case the idiot actually followed through with his threat to show up on his doorstep.

But he didn't have much time to contemplate it because not five minutes later Robert came through the front door. Aaron stopped halfway down the stairs and just stared.

Robert was dressed in navy blue slacks and a white dress shirt and he had left the top two buttons undone. It wasn't just how handsome he looked that had Aaron gripping the railing for support.

It was the single red rose he held in his hand.

The smile that lit up Robert's face had all of Aaron's defenses breaking down. Every reason he had built up inside his head for why this wouldn't work went up in smoke.

"Wh--what are you doing here?" Aaron finally said, breaking the silence between them. 

Robert smiled, reached out and took Aaron's face between his hands, and ran his thumb over Aaron's lower lip. "I came to tell you this to your face, so you can't run away when I say the words."

"Rob, please don't. Don't say anything. Don't ruin this." _Don't ruin our friendship. I can't bear the thought of losing you._

This wasn't the way he planned it, but now being here, it just felt right. And it was Valentine's Day, the most romantic day of the year, the perfect time to tell the one you loved just how much. "It's you, Aaron. It's always been you." He handed Aaron the rose, hoping he wouldn't be turned away or thrown out over his next words. "I love you."

"No, no, no," Aaron said in denial, pushing him away. He needed space so he walked into the kitchen, dropped the rose on the table and started pacing the kitchen. "Stop saying that."

"I won't," Robert said, following him into the kitchen and backing Aaron up against the counter so he had nowhere to run. "I love you, and I'm going to keep saying it until you believe it. I'm not Trent. I'm not going to hurt like he did. He didn't love you, but I fucking do. I have for a long time."

"I'm scared," Aaron said, letting out a heavy exhale. He'd bottled up how he'd really felt for Robert for months. He couldn't do it anymore. "How I feel about you is more powerful than anything I've felt in my entire life. I don't know what to do with it sometimes."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying," Aaron said, wrapped his arms around Robert's neck, "is that I love you."

For a moment, Robert simply stared at him, causing Aaron to think he had made a huge mistake.

"You have no idea how long I've waited to hear you say that," Robert murmured before he crushed their lips together in a heated kiss. "I know I've said it already, but I love you too. I'm going to say it every day, for the rest of our lives."

Aaron's eyes came back to Robert's and locked. He touched his lips to Robert's again because right now words just weren't enough. "You planning on this being a forever type of deal?" he said when he pulled away.

"Forever isn't long enough," Robert said. "I know you've been hurt before and that kills me, but I need you to know, I need you to see that I'm not going to hurt you. Not ever."

Aaron already knew that. He knew _Robert_. "Happy Valentine's Day," Aaron said, because right now, at that moment, he didn't have any words that could measure up to Robert's. For the first time in a long time, he didn't need to question someone's words. He knew Robert meant them. Every single one.

Robert smiled back at him, resting his hand over Aaron's beating heart. "Happy Valentine's Day. It's you and me, okay? No one else."

Aaron's eyes all but glowed at Robert's words, knowing that this time, with this man, he didn't have any doubts. "No one else."

When Robert's lips curved into the charming smile he loved so much, he curled his fingers into Robert's hair and drew him in closer.

"You sure this is what you want?" Aaron said, locking his hands around Robert's neck. 

Robert shut him up by bringing his lips down on Aaron's before he could say another word. 

The way Robert's tongue moved in sync with his had Aaron gripping the counter behind him, the taste of Robert causing a moan to escape his throat. He never expected to want someone so much, and he had never expected someone to want him back just as much.

It was scary but exciting at the same time. And knowing it was Robert, someone who'd known him for years, who knew all his faults and still loved him?

Words couldn't describe how amazing that felt.

Robert tore his mouth free and reached for Aaron's hand. "You going to invite me upstairs or...?"

Aaron led the way up the stairs and into his bedroom. As soon as he shut the door behind them, Robert had him pushed up against it.

"Last chance to change your mind," Robert murmured, pulling Aaron flush against him.

"Too late," Aaron said, grabbing Robert by the shirt and pushing him down on the bed so he could crawl on top of him. "I've been fighting how I've been feeling for too long. I don't want to anymore." He lowered his head and nuzzled into Robert's neck.

Robert brought their interlaced fingers up to his mouth and pressed a kiss to Aaron's knuckles. "Starting today, you're mine. All mine."

"I'm yours," Aaron agreed, his fingers tracing down Robert's now naked torso. "And you're mine."


End file.
